1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a television receiver, and particularly to a method for displaying a progressive degree of channel setting which informs of a progressive degree of automatic channel setting when an automatic channel setting mode is operated in a television receiver having various channels.
The present application is based upon Korean Application No. 97-44522, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Arts
As cable and wireless broadcasting technologies have been developed, television receivers having high performance receive broadcasting signals transmitted through a cable/wireless transmitting unit and then output the received broadcasting signals to users.
Referring to the attached drawings, a process of setting channels automatically in a conventional television receiver is explained. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the conventional television receiver. As shown in the drawing, when power is applied to the conventional television receiver, as the user selects a desired channel by pressing a key equipped in a key input unit 20 which is located at a television main body 130 or in a remote controller 30 which is separated from the television main body 130, a selected signal is input to a microcomputer 10 through a remote receiving unit 30a and an on-screen display unit 120 receives a control signal of the microcomputer 10, thereby displaying the selected channel number on the screen of a cathode ray tube 110.
Simultaneously, a tuner 50 receives the control signal of the microcomputer 10 and then outputs a broadcasting signal corresponding to the selected channel out of the broadcasting signals received through an antenna ANT. The broadcasting signal output from the tuner 50 is input to an audio signal processing unit 80 and a video signal processing unit 90 through an intermediate frequency unit 60 for processing an intermediate frequency and a detection unit 70 for detecting the signals.
In addition, the audio signal processing unit 80 processes only audio signals out of combined video signals output from the detection unit 70 and then outputs the processed signals to a speaker 100. The video signal processing unit 90 only processes video signals out of combined video signals output from the detection unit 70 and then outputs the processed signals to the cathode ray tube 110. As a result, viewers can enjoy the video and audio each output from the cathode ray tube 110 and the speaker 100.
In the above-described television receiver, the viewer can select a desired channel using two methods. First, using a number key equipped in the key input unit or the remote controller, the viewer can select the channel by directly inputting the number of the desired channel. Second, using a channel up/down key equipped in the key input unit or the remote controller, the viewer can select the channel by ascending or descending order number neighboring the present channel number.
Conventionally, since the first method is troublesome in inputting the channel number of two digits, the second method is widely used in selecting the channel excluding the case of selecting a channel which is far apart from the present channel.
As the communication types have been developed, with the increase of the communication sources such as the cable television broadcasting in addition to the conventional public television broadcasting, it takes much time to select one channel in watching the television. As a result, an automatic setting function on the channels capable of being selected is required.
Actually, the number of channels capable of being selected in the television receiver is varied according to the kind of a channel. That is, a general channel has 68 channels, i.e., channel 02 to channel 69, and an extended channel has 125 channels, i.e., channel 01 to channel 125. Since it is necessary to store the channels capable of being selected out of a plurality of channels in a memory 40 shown in FIG. 1, the user can select a desired channel by scanning the channels stored in the memory 40 successively. However, in the conventional automatic channel setting method, only one channel which is set automatically is displayed. Accordingly, the user cannot know how many channels have been tested for an automatic setting out of all the channels capable of being selected and must wait until the test is completely performed on all of the channels to know the extent of the automatic set channels.